Chapter 20: Suffocation
Su Xiao looked at the bar’s female owner, thought for a moment, and spoke, “Selina Gabriel Virginia…”
Pausing mid-sentence, Su Xiao noticed this, and beside him, Musujime Awaki nudged Su Xiao with her elbow, her mouth opening and closing as she silently said something.
“Ah~ right, Karina Salome. What kind of nonsense name is that, so long.”
After Su Xiao spoke the full name of the bar owner Selina, the noise in the bar ceased, and all the patrons looked at Su Xiao and Musujime Awaki.
“So you’ve come after all.”
The bar owner Selina narrowed her eyes, her gaze dangerous. Her thin lips, coated in black lipstick, were pressed tightly together. If one were to compare this woman to an animal, it would be a venomous snake, a brightly colored one.
“Everyone, my trouble has arrived.”
Selina licked her lips, standing before the crowd of patrons.
“Some people really aren’t afraid of death, coming to pick a fight with the Bright Flower Snake.”
“Flower Snake, like I said before, I’ll help you solve this trouble, and tonight you’re mine.”
Dozens of patrons stood up one after another, pulling out various long and short firearms from under the tables. These guns were very advanced, incomparable to the weapons outside Academy City. The unrelated people inside the bar sensed the situation was bad and fled within seconds.
Facing dozens of guns at such close range, Musujime Awaki immediately chickened out and chose to stand behind Su Xiao.
“Kill them, use that energy blade that goes swoosh and cuts them down.”
Musujime Awaki smiled slyly, but Su Xiao remained unmoved. He pressed the signal transmitter in his hand, tossed it toward the patrons, and simultaneously conjured an energy shield with 150 points of strength in front of him.
“Open fire!”
A burly man holding a multi-barreled rotary machine gun was about to pull the trigger when a bullet shot through the wall directly in front of the bar.
With a crack, the bullet blasted a hole several dozen centimeters wide in the wall before tearing into the crowd.
Blood, flesh, and limbs splattered everywhere. That was the power of a heavy sniper rifle bullet. One shot pierced through three patrons directly. It turned out that being hit by a sniper bullet didn’t just leave a small hole; the impact site exploded into a large gaping wound.
Raging firepower poured into the bar. Ten seconds later, the left side of the bar was littered with shattered corpses, blood and gore splattered across the walls and ceiling.
After the overwhelming barrage of fire, the patrons instinctively dropped their guns. Most knelt on the ground, hands on their heads, trembling all over.
The sound of retching came as a few young men holding pistols bent over, vomiting the strong liquor they had just drunk, filling the bar with a sour stench.
“Run!”
One patron shouted, and they began hugging the walls, trying to stay as far from Su Xiao as possible while quickly moving toward the broken wall.
The patrons, who had looked like a terrorist group moments before, scattered like birds and beasts in an instant. The bar’s female owner, Selina, lay sideways on the ground. One of her legs had been blown off by a bullet, and beside her was a notebook stained with blood, her spellcasting medium.
Although Selina was a mage, her abilities leaned toward intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, not strong in direct combat.
Su Xiao walked over to Selina and crouched down. Selina’s face was twisted in pain, her eyes filled with hatred as she glared at Su Xiao.
“Where is Kanzaki Kaori?”
“Pfft!”
Su Xiao turned his head, dodging Selina’s spit.
“Sooner or later, this place will vanish under magic. That day is coming…”
Before Selina could finish, Su Xiao suddenly grabbed the front of her tight clothing, pulled it over her head, and stepped on her lower abdomen with one foot, exposing her bra. Selina struggled with all her might, thinking Su Xiao was going to “rub her face into the ground.” Seeing this, Musujime Awaki snorted lightly and muttered something about finishing it quickly.
However, a few minutes later, Selina wished Su Xiao had just rubbed her face into the ground, because that would have been better than the living hell she was enduring.
Su Xiao picked up a bottle of blood-stained liquor from nearby, unscrewed it, and poured the alcohol over Selina’s head.
The liquor soaked through the fabric over Selina’s head. Due to her rapid breathing, her mouth and nose sucked the alcohol in through the cloth, and the pungent vodka choked her respiratory tract.
“Mmmph mmmph~”
Selina struggled even more violently. Su Xiao emptied the bottle, then released Selina.
Selina tore the cloth off her head, her face flushed red, coughing loudly as if she were about to cough up her lungs.
“Cough, cough, cough, ugh~”
After a bout of struggle, Selina trembled, gasping for air. The burning suffocation was harder to bear than death itself.
“Where is Kanzaki Kaori?”
Su Xiao’s tone was very calm.
“I won’t…”
Su Xiao again covered Selina’s head with her tight clothing, his hand flat. Seeing this, Musujime Awaki teleported a bottle of liquor into his hand, this time something stronger. The girl had a bit of a twisted sense of humor.
The liquor poured down, and Selina began to sob as she struggled.
Ten minutes later, Selina lay limp on the ground, occasionally twitching. A mix of various alcohols flowed from her mouth and nose.
“Where is Kanzaki Kaori?”
Su Xiao repeated the same question, which sounded like a demon’s whisper in Selina’s ears.
“At, at…”
Selina gritted her teeth.
“At the… Juvenile Reformatory… east side… an abandoned warehouse.”
Saying this seemed to drain all of Selina’s strength, and tears slid down her cheek.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
Su Xiao stood up and walked out of the bar. Although Aleister knew where Kanzaki Kaori was, he wouldn’t provide her exact location, as it involved the surface relationship between the science and magic sides, along with plenty of political maneuvering.
As Su Xiao stepped out of the bar, over a dozen members of the Hound Unit, dressed in black combat suits, steel helmets, and gas masks, fully covered from head to toe, surrounded the bar.
At some point, an isolation zone had been set up around the bar. These were the cleanup personnel of the Hound Unit.
Bang, bang, bang…
Gunfire came from inside the bar. The Hound Unit’s style was to leave no survivors, though valuable targets would be spared as exceptions.
Su Xiao looked at an unfinished building a few hundred meters away. He opened his wireless earpiece, said something, and the sniper who had been driving earlier quickly ran over.
“Mr. White Night.”
The sniper instinctively tried to salute but then froze, remembering he was no longer a soldier. Now he was just a grunt in an execution squad, stripped even of his name.
“You did well. From now on, you’re assigned to my action team.”
The sniper’s shots earlier had left a deep impression on Su Xiao—precise and without hesitation.
“Mr. White Night, this…”
Before the sniper could finish, Su Xiao waved his hand.
“That one with the black gas mask.”
Su Xiao pointed to a member of the Hound Unit, a squad leader.
“Contact Kihara Amata for me.”
“…”
The squad leader didn’t speak, just took out a communicator. Following orders had become his instinct.
Su Xiao hadn’t had much contact with the Hound Unit, but his impression was that these warriors, ruthless and skilled with firearms, were excellent. They followed orders without emotional fluctuation over the mission, acted decisively, and were professional.
A moment later, the squad leader contacted Kihara Amata.
“What do you want?”
Kihara Amata’s voice came through a communicator that resembled a walkie-talkie.